Taking Time
by Kazias
Summary: We all know Red, don't we? The master of Ellipsis, The Chuck Norris of the Pokemon world, the mysterious trainer who remains at the elusive Mount Silver. But when he hears of his mother dying, maybe being the best there ever was isn't good enough... What he needs is time.
1. Chapter 1

_Who knew the silent one would be such a chatter box in his head?_

Ah, the mountains were the perfect place to be. Not just any mountains of course; I'm talking about Mt. Silver, at the very summit. Oh yes, I'm the one named after a very popular color. I'm the one who's starter Pokemon burns hotter, and brighter than the very sun. I am the one with an energetically adorable yellow mouse. I am the one who gets every single person fearing, and swooning over me. I am the one- who appears stuck on the mountain.

Now don't get me wrong, I know how to get myself down. But I really needed some peace and quiet up here. The echoing silence of the mountain could almost match my mastery of ellipses; and I enjoyed it's solitude and majestic view of the land below, when you're at the very snowy summit of it all. I guess you could say I was training my Pokemon. You'd be surprised how well you can work out in freezing-cold temperatures.

Ah yes, being my silent-protagonist self on a beautifully snowing mountain of death. What fun. Oh, how that snow falls like dust. The way those shiny, pure-white flakes gently fall on my face and hair. My hat, which usually should be on my head, was on the head of my Pikachu, who was also nuzzling my leg playfully. Smiling down at my cute yellow friend, I bent over and gently stroked his soft yellow fur. I was up here for well over a few years now; Of course I'd come back down to get some supplies, but I always found myself returning to this very place. Why was that? Out of all the amazing places there are, across Kanto, Johto, and all the likes, I'd always end up back here. And why, out of all the legendaries and powerful Pokemon I've come across on my travels, that I always remained with just my same six Pokemon consisting of a Pikachu, Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, Snorlax, and an Espeon? The answer never mattered to me.

My eyes loomed across the snowy mountain.

Maybe I'm looking for something. A purpose, perhaps. Every time there's new Pokemon to catch, I always capture them with such ease, every new Region, I'm finding it easier, and faster to explore every single nook and cranny. Either I'm getting too good at this- or I'm getting too old. Too old? You're never too old to be a Pokemon Trainer! Look at that old-lady of the Kanto Elite four! Helga, I think her name was. My memory frequently fails me when it comes to names. Then again, I'm not really a Trainer, aren't I? Admittedly, I'm the Master- Master of every single region, every single other trainer out there in existence. I... I could almost say that I was getting tired of being the master. Maybe that's why I stay at this mountain. I envy how it gets a fresh new blanket of snow every Winter, while I'm stuck with the title of 'Champion' glued on my forehead. Figuratively, of course. Journeys became shorter and shorter, and Triumphs became less appealing with each win I've accomplished.

Pikachu was pulling at my long blue pants with concern, staring up at me with wide glittering black eyes, that shone a glow of deep-brown. I nodded, letting it know that I was alright. Pikachu chirped it's always adorable, 'Chu!' and points it's zig-zagging tail right behind us.

Hm, due to all this pointless thinking I've pondered in, I couldn't hear those steps of shoe against snow until just now. Swerving around, I draw my Pokeball that contained the all-powerful Charizard, while Pikachu growled, sparks of yellow electricity sparking off both it's round red cheeks.

"I knew I'd find you here." It was, surprise surprise, Blue! Great, he's gone from being utterly annoying and cocky to being a stalker who seems to know where I like to stay. I'm not at all surprised that he managed to reach the top of the mountain as I have; I have to admit, he was indeed a powerful trainer, and Gym leader.

Standing my ground while watching Blue with little to no emotion, I keep the Pokeball gripped in my hand, Pikachu still remained wary.

"Chill out man, I'm not here to battle you. I think I'd know who'd win anyway." He muttered the last part to himself. Where those eyes of jealousy? Of course, I could tell emotions from half a mile away. Well, if I had binoculars, maybe. I went on watching him with calculating eyes, and a shrugged my shoulders up.

_Then what are you doing here?_ I know that he would have no idea what I'm saying, but people usually get the idea anyway. Blue crossed his arms, glancing away briefly. When he turned back to me, his blue-eyes were almost dulled down to a steel-grey.

"It's about your mother. She's-" I went still. Rigid. I even felt a little sick. She's what? Won the lottery? Made a few pottery? Alright, sorry for making terrible rhymes, but I really wish Blue would hurry up and tell me what happened to my mother.

My mother... She's the only family I have. I just wish she was just missing me, and simply wanted me home, and not in any trouble or anything. Being in trouble was my job anyway.

I was so busy training and trapped in my current dilemma as the most powerful trainer on the whole planet, that I forgot about having a home in Pallet Town. I guess being obsessed with Pokemon does that to you.

"She's very, very ill, Red. I only just heard about it, because Gramps contacted me to tell you the bad news. The doctors says she might not make it. I thought maybe you could visit her and—" I didn't care what he was going to say next, I already knew anyway. I strode right up to him, and grabbed at his shirt, pulling his face close to mine. I narrow my eyes in a venomous glare, holding back grim thoughts in my head.

_And what, say good bye? __There will be no need to say good bye!_

"What's gotten into you? Let go of me!" Blue managed to pull away from my grip, uncomfortably petting himself down to make sure his limbs weren't torn off. Oh come on, I wasn't that violent... Most of the time. I jab my index-finger at his direction, and then motion away from the mountain.

_Now go away, I stay at the mountains specifically to avoid annoying people like you._

"Look, stop being such a silent idiot, and just tell me what you're thinking!" He swiped his arm as if it was a sword, snarling at me like his Arcanine. I wonder how that Pokemon was doing. I remain silent as usual, because that's the next thing I'm best at doing apart from never loosing a single battle. Only- I don't think I'd do too well in a singing contest. Eventually Blue calmed down, as neither of us said a single word. He gave me an apologetic look, as if it was all his fault that I never speak.

"We all forgot what your voice sounds like. Even your own mother. She wants to see, and hear you- she can't come to you, being in a Hospital bed and all. Like you care anyway, thinking too much about your precious Poke-" Once again, I decide to interrupt his sentences, but this time, I had a decent excuse. I swing my fist square in his face, and he stumbles back into the snow, almost creating a snow angel beneath him.

That _assdick_. How dare he even _think_ that?

But guilt tore at my insides. I wasn't thinking too much of my own mother, for all these years of training... Was it my fault that she grew ill? Because I neglected to see her? I watch Blue rub his jaw in obvious pain, where I had recently punched him. My knuckles was still burning at the impact- I was never the kind to get into physical brawls. I left that to my Pokemon.

"What the hell is your problem!?" He hollered.

_My problem? What's my problem!? You just assumed that I cared about my Pokemon more than my own mother! Why the hell would you even think that!? Not that I cared about my Pokemon less- I love both my Pokemon, and my mother equally!_ Silently walking away from him, I began to head back down the mountain. I now knew my next purpose- see mom.

"That's right, walk away from everybody and everything and disappear like a lonely, silent ass! That's all you're good at doing, apart from being the Champion of the whole damn world!" I could see Blue follow after me out of the corner of my eyes, his teeth gritting with bitter rage.

I marched on, ignoring him. Pikachu hops after me, and threw my hat back up to me. I quickly place the hat back on my head, allowing the cap to shade my eyes.

I felt hands grab at my shoulder- Blue pulls and turns me around to face him. Geez, his hands sure can grip! It's almost like he's crushing my shoulder. Either that, or I'm just not that strongly built for any physical contact whatsoever. I must admit, I never really work out- I leave that to my Pokemon. I seem lean enough anyway. Maybe a little too skinny, spending so long up in these mountains with barely any food or water to spare...

For some strange reason, Blue didn't look angry anymore- he just looked as if he lost the game. Well, he has lost our last battle, all those years ago. He's still angry at that? I'm not surprised. He was whooped pretty badly, even from a trainer like myself.

"You know what I always admired about you? You always listened to people, hearing everybody's stories. You were as patient, as you were powerful. What happened to you, Red? I know people change, but- I never expected you to be so damn _different_." Blue's words, for once, went into my ears, and echoed in my mind. Most of he time he'd say something degrading and pointless before I kicked his ass in a Pokemon battle. Ah, those were the days.

Yet... I've changed? How so? I just don't like taking crap from spiky-brown-haired people who used to constantly bully me all the time anymore. I'd say that is an improvement to my different self. I didn't even feel different- well, maybe that was just a lie to myself. As cleche as this sounds, I did feel a lot more hollow. Everyday the emptiness gets darker, and wider. And I don't, nor want to know why.

I frown and turn away from Blue, tipping my cap with my fingers to hide my eyes away again. Pikachu climbs up my shoulder and nips at Blue's hand, and he instantly draws away with a grunt. I hide an amused smile.

"I know you'll get to the hospital, Red. Just... Get there, you idiot." He murmured with strain in his eyes. He took out a Pokeball, releasing his Pidgeot. Mounting on the enormous bird-Pokemon, he took one last glance at me, and then lifted off into the mountain air.

I watch him fly away until he and his bird was a dot in the sky. I knew I could always fly away on Charizard, it would have probably been far more quicker as well. I wanted to see Mom, I really did- but somehow... I feared seeing her. Seeing her face when she looks at me with those loving, brown eyes she'd always give me. If I'm so different, what will she do when she sees me? I haven't looked at a mirror for years, and I pay no attention to reflections.

I suddenly feel a weak jolt of electricity across my whole body, and I almost jump up in fright. I turn to Pikachu with a small frown of disapproval, as it winks and cutely chirps at me again. Yeah, Pikachu's right- I better get Charizard out and fly there, walking there will take ages.


	2. Chapter 2

_If only there was a Deus Ex Machina..._

"Oh, Red! Long time no seen!"

"Goodness, I'm so sorry about your mother."

"Hey, how's the legendary trainer of Pallet Town doing?"

"Wow, it's really Red! Can I have your autograph?"

"Have you seen my Rattatta?"

And as usual, I'd always reply with a silent nod, and speak in utter silence.

"..."

Nobody in town really questioned why I never speak. Neither did I. I just decided not to speak one day. Well, that's half true. The other reason is a bit of a secret. Will you find out the secret? Probably not. It's depressing anyway, you wont like it. Anyway, where was I again? Oh yes, heading to the Hospital!

I don't know why my mind was wandering far more in the clouds than usual. I guess it's my mind counteracting with the tension I've been feeling for seeing mom again. Each step I took was carefully calculated, and executed with perfect precision. My hands were dug into my pockets. My Pokeballs were at my belt, ready to be thrown if needed. I kept half-expecting for some completely random event to take place. But my expectations died down when I finally reached the entrance to the Hospital. Why was I hoping for some utter disaster to happen right in front of me? Did I lust for danger, and action that much? I have a family member to visit, I can't be thinking about things like that.

Perhaps my experiences have made me a bit of a thrill-seeker. I don't really think that's a good thing, especially for poor old mom. She's always worrying about me...

Just above the slide-doors, it read: 'Pallet Town Hospital – In Sickness, and in health'. The words were written in wonderfully golden letters that reminded me of a good friend of mine named Gold. He challenged me a while ago, in the very mountains I just left. The out-come of the battle? I'll be nice enough, and give you a little clue.

_I never loose._

On entering the Hospital, I could feel a very odd atmosphere going on. It smelt like strong cleaning products. The rooms looked very clean. I approached the receptionist, who was seated on a comfortable-looking chair, reading a book. I tap impatiently on the counter she was near, and she looked up, blinking behind her glasses.

"Oh, Red! You must be here for your mother. She's on floor 4, in room 13b." The woman said, giving me a hopeful, yet also very sad smile.

I could almost see a flash of my mother sick in bed. It didn't help that she was staying at the well-known number floor of death known as 4, and the terribly-bad lucked numbered room of 13. Nonetheless, I tried to keep my hopes high, and I gave the woman a pleasant smile of my own- she stared at me as if I was an angel. Well, at least I've still got the looks. Turning away, I headed for the elevator, and pressed the buttons to my destination. Just before the elevator doors slide to a close, somebody else scuttled into the elevator. She was quite a young girl, and looked awfully familiar- Daisy! Wow, she's grown an awful lot since I've last seen her informing me how much my Pokemon loved me. She's always had a special affinity with Pokemon, probably more so than me; While I was more of an expert on how Pokemon battled and predicting their next moves and behaviors, Daisy was more sensitive on the emotions of Pokemon.

Daisy stared up at me. She may have grown, but I've also done some growing myself- and towered above her.

"Red? Red! You're so big now!" Daisy said cheerfully, and to my astonishment, she gave me a hug. I almost lost my balance- not because her hug was one of those tackling-ones, even though it was quite a charged-hug, but because I haven't been hugged for so long. In fact, when was the last time I was hugged? Oh it doesn't matter, Daisy reminded me that hugs were indeed, very pleasant. They made you feel all warm and fuzzy.

"I'm here to see your mom too. I brought her some flowers. Oh, where's your cute little Pikachu?" Daisy stared at my shoulders as she realized that the yellow mouse wasn't on either one. I shrugged.

_It's resting in a Pokeball._

As the elevator opened up to our chosen floor, Daisy runs out, and skips towards the room. She turns around to face me. I was walking calmly and normally, keeping my gloved hands hidden in my pocket.

"Come on, Slowpoke!" Daisy said, and disappeared in room 13b. Shaking my head at the energetic girl, I could easily imagine her as a Pikachu. The thought of her with pointy ears got a silent chuckle out of me.

I entered room 13b, and it a took a moment for me to find my mother resting in a clean white bed. She was laying down- of course, and her black hair was spread out in wide curls across her pillow. Her eyes were wide, and sparkling as soon as they fell upon my form- but the rest of her body didn't look to great.

She had aging wrinkles forming over her well-shaped face, reminding me of how much time has passed. Her skin was as pale as the snow back on Mt. Silver, and her frame looked far too frail, and weak. She lifted her thin arms, reaching out for me.

"Hello, Red, dear." It seemed the only thing that hadn't changed about her was her voice. It was so gentle, so peaceful- I never hear her shouting, or crying. Feeling like the kid I was at age 10, I run over to her, clasping my hand over her own. She brings her head close to mine, smiling, and kisses my forehead softly.

"Honey, take your hat off when you're inside." She said. Daisy giggles at me while tending to the flowers that were for Mom. I look up at my hat- and roll my eyes at mom, before taking it off. For somebody who's gravely ill, she's sure managing to keep up a motherly-way of speaking to her only son. Well, that's mom for you- a mother to the end. Oh, what am I talking about? There's no end for her! She's going to get better in no time, and continue watering her wonderful garden outside our house.

I wish I could ask mom how she was feeling. I wanted to ask her how things were going- but when I tried to open my mouth to speak, nothing came out. Not even a sigh. Mom petted my hair, tapping my head gently.

"I'm alright, honey. Just a little tired. I've been doing very well for these past few years- thinking of you, how your Pokemon journey has been doing. Everyday I worry for you. But then I remember how talented my own son is."

Oh god, is she doing what I think she's doing? The guilt-trip! A parent's very own way of getting their own kid to behave or do something for them. Or maybe that was simply just me getting myself feeling guilty. Whatever it was, that same feeling of guilt threatened to tear at my eyes. I've been so busy, I didn't even have time to think of mom, and here she was, thinking of me everyday. Sure, I could say that I had a good excuse- I was catching Pokemon, battling Pokemon, and challenging Trainers, Champions, and Elite Fours. But I could of at least sent a simple mail to her... Instead, all I did was disappear from her life for so long without even a phone call. Even though I'm pretty sure a phone call wouldn't help, being mute and all.

_Ugh, I'm such a horrible son. _I'm surprised she didn't disown me yet.

But mom's eyes for forgiving, as if she was reading my mind, and she even laughed.

"Don't think too much, it's not good for your health. Have you been eating healthy? Aw, you lost all your baby fat." She pinched my cheeks, which I politely pulled away from, because Daisy's giggles were beginning to bug the hell out of me.

"Daisy, do you think you could get me a drink? Maybe some juice." Mom asked, turning over to the giggle-machine that was Daisy. Nodding with a cheery smile, she scrambled out of the room, obviously wanting to get back here to watch mom humiliate me. The great and all powerful Pokemon Master, reduced to a mere boy by his own mom! Geez, I'm just glad Blue isn't here to see this.

The thing that scared me, even though I should be completely calm because of it, is how normal mom sounded. She was acting as if she just woke up from a pleasant sleep, and is having a regular visit from me. As if she wasn't in a hospital bed, as if she wasn't gravely ill. What was wrong with her, anyway? I tried not to think about it, as dread settled over my eyes.

"Get more sleep, your eyes look like they haven't closed a wink." Mom said airily, and pulled me into a hug. I knew she wanted to hold me in a hug properly, and cradle me like her own baby, but I guess she understands that everybody grows and changes, including her only son.

It was then that she started coughing. They were harsh and awful, and I felt my gut wrench with every throat-shattering choke and cough she did- I quickly grabbed the tissues nearby, and pulled a few from the box, then handed them over to mom. She took them with a small nod before coughing again, and began coughing into the lump of tissues.

I winced, watching her helplessly as she coughed. With all the Pokemon in the world, with all the Badges, with all the damn Champion titles and wins and Trophies and Ribbons, I could not cure my own mother. As she pulled the tissues away from her mouth when she stopped her coughing fit, I grimaced with fear and anguish as I saw what exactly was on her tissue as a result of her coughing- Blood.

_Tuberculosis._


	3. Chapter 3

_Having quality-time with your dying mother._

I stayed with my mother. I sat right beside her bed, listening to her stories, speaking to me, and I'd listen to every word she'd say. She'd tell me stories of amazing people she's seen, but none as amazing as myself, of course. She'd tell me stories of finding Pokemon, or dreams she's had, and of places she's been when she was not taking care of the house. And I'd always listen to her. I was back to my usual self- the patient, ever-curious boy who's always listening to others, hearing their stories, getting to know new people. Somehow mom managed to restore me back to normal- the feelings I had of emptiness and aimlessness diminished. I found my new purpose- being there for mom.

Eventually nighttime arrived, and nurses came in, and to my utter disappointment, I had to leave. Cursing quietly, I obediently left, for mom managed to convince me to go and have some rest for myself, saying my eyes are a lot darker than she remembers. My eyes are darker? That's it, I'm going to find a mirror!

On leaving the Hospital, my irritation returned. My impatience settled in. I wanted to walk back inside, and support mom. Stupid nurses. I imagined ordering Charizard to spout flamethrower on all the doctors and nurses into burnt crisps- I grinned with a grim amusement. Of course, doctors were needed to fix mom up, so I'll keep that plan of mine for a _sunny day_.

I suppose I should head back to Mt. Silver and wait for tomorrow- no, no, what am I doing? I can't go back there!

_Not now, anyway. _Those mountains hold some kind strange, almost supernatural effect on me, I swear. It's echoing silence and the bi-polar swirls of snow storms always wonder into my mind.

Silently sighing to myself, I head on to the nearest place I knew I could stay- my own home. To think, for once in a long time, I'll actually have a bed to sleep in. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised mom commented on me appearing to need more sleep- I really haven't slept too much. Sleeping was a waste of time. Why waste perfectly good hours on resting? I'll rest while I'm working! I don't care if it's not possible, I've already stated I'm Red and I'll break the rules whenever the hell I want.

My house, from since I last remembered, seemed unchanged- it was still an old shingled roof, with a mail-box and the lovely garden out back. I passed through the picket gate, and walked up to the door. I stared at it for a moment- I was born and raised here, and yet, I felt like I was a complete stranger to the place. Feeling ridiculous for even thinking of such a thing, I dug into my bag, and rummaged through my stuff until I finally pulled out a small, tiny old key. Funny how it was at the very bottom of the bag-pack.

I insert the key into the keyhole, and heard a clicking noise. Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened it- why was I feeling so uneasy about entering the house? A chilling breeze blew by, causing me to shiver. I quickly entered the house to avoid the cold. Swiping my hands around I found a light and switched it on- for some odd reason, everything was still cold.

I picked my way across the house- the table was where it has always been, the tv was where it has always been. Everything is exactly the same. Except for the wall-paper, which was now a pleasant, swirly pattern of white and light blues. Creeping around, I found that the nearest window was broken, and drizzles of rain began finding it's way through the window. I instantly tensed as I realized why the window may be broken- and as I heard foot steps behind me, I turned around to come face to face with an utter stranger.

She had black clothes on and a hood that covered everywhere but her eyes. She looked like some kind of ninja, hunched over with a knife in her hands. Her lighting-quick arm slashed the knife at my as I reached to grab a Pokeball- but I winced as her knife made a deep cut into my arm. Pulling away and going for any one of my Pokeballs again, she dived forward and tripped me over onto my back, and then went ahead and tried to stab the knife right through my face- I rolled out of the way just in time, only receiving a scar across my right cheek-bone.

I clumsily got to my feet, and finally managed to throw a Pokeball- out came Espeon, in all it's Pinkish-purple glory. Espeon instantly snapped into action, I had no need to tell my Pokemon what to do, as it used it's Psychic powers, and forced the black-clothed woman off her feet, smashing against a wall. Now being held down by an invisible force, she tried to move, but wouldn't budge. I nodded a thankful smile to Espeon, who began licking it's fine fur, and scratching it's ears, and made a little yawn and stretch.

Approaching the woman in black, I knelt over before her, simply staring at her. She stared back at me. After what seemed like minutes passing, the woman finally spoke.

"Look, just let me leave, you got me." She said, still trying to move out of the grip of my Espeon's psychic force. Letting you leave? After trying to kill me? Was this dame serious? I pointed at the deep cut she delivered on both my arm and my face, and she exasperated.

"It's a little reflex of mine. You scared me, okay? Now let me go, I'll never come back here again, I promise."

Sure you wont, you lady-ninja. I clicked my fingers towards Espeon, and it made the girl float up. I began heading upstairs. Everything appeared untouched down here, so perhaps she was looking through my own room. I viewed my room as I reached the top of the stairs. Ah, here we are. Books were all over the place, paper too. Photographs, drawings, even my bed's sheets were sprawled all over the place. What was she looking for in my room?

I point a firm index-finger at her.

_What were you doing in my room, lady._

The girl was slammed against the wall, thanks to my trusty Espeon, and she gasped at the force. I slowly approached her, giving a glare. I'm just glad mom wasn't here, I'd hate her life to be in any more danger than it was already.

"What do you want from me? I was just looking for stuff to steal, I'm just your regular, harmless thief. I didn't even break anything- well, apart from the window." Well, she was failing pretty badly at lying, wasn't she? I turned to Espeon, who shook it's long-eared head, and slammed the girl back into the wall again. I love how Psychic Pokemon can read the minds of others and tell if they're lying or not.

"I'm telling you, I have nothing more to say!" She insisted. I glared darkly at her, refusing to blink. _Look here little miss stabby-stab, I have a dying mother in Hospital, I am not, I repeat, NOT in the mood to take lies, or crap! Now tell me why you were snooping around in my room! _Oh, if only I could speak. Oh well, hopefully my awful scowl will tell her. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an expression was worth over nine thousand. But as I was staring directly at her, my eyes lowered to her pocket. Approaching her quickly, I managed to pull something out of her pocket.

_Uh... Really? My god. _Well now, I didn't know ladies were the kind to go panty raiding a poor guy's room. Or in this case, underwear-raiding- panties were a girl thing. I guess boxers were too big to fit into her pocket. Oh don't look at me that way, I like to explore the wide range of garments to wear!

"This isn't what it looks like!" She said, as I threw the white underwear away near my drawers, where the clothes were sprawled all over the place.

_Sure it doesn't, you little pervert. And I thought men were terrible. _Clicking my fingers to Espeon again, the girl began floating towards the nearest window. I slid it open, and allowed her to float outside of it. She was left suspended in midair, floating higher and higher- we could drop her at any moment.

"Whoa now, you can't just drop me!" She flayed her limbs about helplessly, as I simply smirked at how powerless she was. I wonder how higher we can take her to break her legs. Hmm, if we take her even higher still, she may be able to splat like a pancake. But that seemed to have to wait, because I began to feel a slight tinge of dizziness over-take my head. Looking down at my arm, I could see quite a lot of blood seething from my wound, and I could feel the cut on my cheek-bone trickle blood down my neck. Espeon quickly acted as I realized the blood, and managed to find bandages lying around somewhere in my room.

Man, I love my Pokemon. I began to wrap bandages around my bleeding arm, and then placed a clump of it over the wound on my face, holding it there.

I looked out the window, watching the girl left floating far higher than the roof of my house. I held my hand out, all five fingers spread- and slowly began counting them down.

_Five._

She stared at me.

_Four._

She flayed her arms about a little more.

_Three. Two. O-_

"I was sent to locate somebody named Red! Only I assume you're Red, aren't you?" She quickly exclaimed, staring down at the ground. Something was telling me that she was really afraid of heights. So much for the ninja-girl who almost cut my bloody face off. Literally.

I nod, winking at her.

_You got it, the one and only. Why, what poor unfortunate soul is hunting me down this time? _I asked- well, would have. I'm sure she got the idea, though. She stared at me for a moment, and grumbled a sigh.

"I am so getting in trouble for this. I was sent by Giovanni. Previously known as the boss of team Rocket, and was the Gym Leader of Viridian City. He didn't tell me why he wanted to track you down, he just wanted me to track you down. When I finally discovered where your residence was, I had to take a sample and take it back to our Houndoom so they could track you down by smell, hence the underwear. Just to let you know, I'm not a pervert!"

_Whoa, whoa, lady, don't tell me your whole life's story, I just wanted to know who sent you to go stalk me, sheesh. Well, I'm still going to call her the perverted-ninja just for the heck of it. Giovanni, huh? That silly man who had to cross paths with me. I don't feel sorry for him at all. Pokemon are not tools... They have feelings, a soul, as any other human would. _

Slowly, the perverted-ninja was being lowered down, and she was brought back inside my room through the window. I signaled to Espeon, who dropped the girl. She landed on both her feet. She appeared as if she was getting ready to run for it. She better run, before I send Charizard after her.

"Thanks. And sorry about cutting you like that, I really am. So do you think I could bring you over to Giovanni? He doesn't want to fight you, or anything. He wants to ask a favor of you." Yeah, like I was going to really just walk over to the old man's house and do whatever he wants me to do.

I shake my head, showing my disinterest, and point at my door, indicating that she can leave now.

The girl hesitated.

"Why not?"

My, what a childish question, not to mention stupid. Well, I understand that not everybody is the brightest Voltorb in the power-plant. I walked over to the fallen pile of photos, and picked up one that had both me and my mother standing outside Lavender Tower. I remember that day as clear as crystal- my mother decided to have me visit Lavender Town for the very first time. I'd never forget her wise words, when she told me to always respect the dead. That memory stung a bit- Lavender Town was turned into a Radio Tower, now. I always planned to trash that place. Maybe I should actually get around to doing that.

"Is that your mother?" She asked. I nod, and slapped my head briefly with the palm of my hand. _Duh, can't you see the resemblance?_

"What's wrong with your mother?" She asked again. Well, I suppose I can't say this was an obvious one, I mean heck, I thought my mother won the lottery or something when Blue went to tell me the extremely bad news. I raise my gloved hand, then pretended to cough into it. The perverted-ninja nodded slowly.

"Oh, sick. I'm very sorry to hear. But if it makes you change your mind, Giovanni's idea he had in mind could also help your mother's sickness. And you wont risk loosing her, if the sickness gets worse."

Hmm, now this intrigued me. For once Giovanni wants to do something that was relatively beneficial for people other than himself? Now that's a shocker right there! I put a hand on hips, tilting my head to show my interest. The girl smiled brightly.

"So you agree to help?" She asked hopefully. I shrug with a vague nod, then tap my wrist, pretending it was a watch.

"What? You'll come another time? What about tomorrow, same time?" She asked. I give a more definite nod, and gave a silent sigh, then pointed to the door. She eyes me nervously, as if I was going to do something horrible when she has her back turned to leave. Oh come on, I'm not that horrible!

Most of the time, anyway.

Rolling my eyes exhaustedly, I began leading her down the steps to see her out of my house.

"Why don't you talk? Something wrong with your throat?" She asked. Yup, she's definitely not from around here. I ignore her, and open the door, motioning my hands outside. The girl hesitates, then bows before me.

"Thank you for agreeing to help him! He'll be very grateful!" To my mild surprise, she stole a quick kiss on my left cheek, before running off out the door into the night.

Huh.

The first time a girl apart from my mother kisses me and it's from a perverted-ninja-lady who attempted to kill me with a knife and stole my underwear. Wonderful.

Espeon sits down, purring a laugh at me. I ignore it's mocking laughter, and began to head back up my room, closing the door. Now I remember why I sometimes switch my Espeon with Lapras- the psychic Pokemon did enjoy laughing at others more than any of my other Pokemon. Cheeky bugger. There was no point locking the house down, seeing I had six Pokemon more than capable of taking down over a hundred other Ninjas who may decide to break into my room.

Speaking of breaking- I point over to the broken window. Espeon leaps into action and begins to repair the window back to it's former glory of being an unbroken window, sealing every piece back by it's Psychic powers. Giving a silent yawn, I finally get back into my room, and lay down in bed. I didn't need the sheets. Slipping my shoes, jacket, and hat off before settling down, I was going to check the mirror to see how I've 'changed'. But fatigue replaced my curiosity, and my eyes closed against my will.

Sleep sounded like a better option right about now. My thoughts wondered off into the strange, swirling world known as dreams.


	4. Chapter 4

_Come on, we all at least meet one perverted person in our life time_

I never really pay attention to my dreams. There was no need to, they mattered nothing to me- and the only ones I usually remember are just nightmares. I woke up, feeling like I should be shaken, and disturbed by the nightmare- my Pokemon all dying, my mother disappearing without a trace or word. But these were a standard thing in my dreams. In fact, I'd probably find myself more in shock if I actually had a _pleasant _dream for once. Rubbing my eyes sleepily to get them opening properly, I sat up on my bed, and reached out to grab my hat on my bed post- but as I took hold of the hat, my eyes found somebody else sitting at the desk nearby.

"It's about time you're awake, sleepy head- you're so cute when you're asleep."

Oh great. It was Leaf. Now how the hell did she get in my room? Wasn't Espeon guarding the house?

She was watching me with her usual, cheeky grin- hm, is it just me, or does she look a lot more uh- grown up? There was a specific area just below the neck and above the stomach that made me wonder the question. Oh hey come on, don't look at me that way, it's perfectly natural for a guy like myself to be doing that! At least I didn't attempt to steal her underwear like miss Perverted-ninja did. Seriously, I'm sure there were plenty of other samples of my stuff she could have taken.

Leaf stroked my Espeon's fine sensitive fur, which was purring and nuzzling her arm. Great, she became a specialist in charming Pokemon as well. Wasn't that Pikachu's job? I'd ask what she was doing, stalking me in my sleep and calling me insulting names such as 'cute' but I really don't care. I pointed a finger at the stairs beside the door.

_Get out of my damn house. _

She almost looked hurt, the way I pointed at the door and stared at her without a care, or word. I didn't really have time to be nice, or do anything with her, I had a dying mother to visit.

"Hey, relax big boy, I just wanted to give you my condolences for your mom. She's such a wonderful woman, she's always been there for all of us. I really am sorry about her being sick and all." Her playful eyes instantly shifted into a saddened, almost pained expression. What made things sadder for her, was that Leaf never really had a mother to begin with. She's lived with her rough, but kind Auntie. How my mother managed to share her love between me, Blue, and Leaf, it remains a mystery. I nodded quickly, and swished my hand at her to tell her to just go away and leave me be.

Leaf pouted, frowning.

"Stop being such a quiet little emo! Is something the matter, Red? Something apart from mom? We're still friends, aren't we? You don't need to be afraid to tell me what's going on with yourself." How touching, after all this time, and she still considers me a friend. I'm not gonna lie, she was a very kind girl, and will probably always be. A little too generous, for she tried to share her time with both me and Blue when we were younger. She always had trouble wondering which one to go to, me or Blue, seeing we both couldn't stand each other- eventually, of course, my silence drove her away to become girlfriends with Blue.

_Was I silent because I was lonely, or was I lonely because I was silent?_

Hold on a minute, did she just call me an emo? Excuse me? I don't cut myself, and I certainly am not wearing my hair over my eyes in some emo hair cut. Then again, I haven't really been taking care of my hair lately. By the looks of the black strands dangling over my face and partly my eyes, I'd say it's grown a lot longer than I last checked. Oh well, girls dig sexy black hair, last time I checked. But I should really consider checking out a mirror after all.

I shrugged, and stood up, slipping my shoes on, and picked my short-sleeved jacket up, lazily dangling it over my shoulder. I'll put it on when I get outside. Leaf stood up from the chair, not taking her eyes off me. Geez, what is everybody's problem? Am I really that amazing to look at?

"Look, what I'm trying to say it, you don't have to do things alone all the time. We're all here for you, we want to support both you and your mother. Please, just say something, if you want to say something." She looked at me pleadingly, half-expecting me to at least say a quiet little 'Thank you'. Instead, I shrugged. I truly am grateful that everybody was willing to help us out. But they don't need to support and help me, they should worry more about my mother, she's the one dying in a bed in the Hospital. It's as if they're treating her as if she's already dead, and they're all trying to comfort the son with the dead mother! She wont die... I'll save her myself, if I have to. Speaking of which...

I strain a smile to her, and I quickly rush out of the room with Espeon trailing on after me.

I was beginning to dislike the faces of pity and sadness everybody gave me. Why give me pity? I don't deserve it, mom needs it far more than I do.

This time my mother insisted that she felt well enough to leave the bed to explore outside to enjoy some fresh air. I took her out and we visited different places together. Her gentle voice always soothed my ever-worrying mind. Every now and then she'd cough and choke a little, and I'd quickly provide her with tissues, while I helplessly watch my mom's form break down. It was bitterly beautiful to finally spend a whole day with her doing something normal that we always used to do.

Professor Oak even decided to hang out with us.

The poor old Professor was suffering a serious case of short-term memory loss. Admittedly, I wasn't too surprised- after all, he is the one who forgot his own grandson's name. I was tempted to remind Professor Oak that Blue's name was actually "Asshole" but of course, my will to be silent caused me to stay with my lips closed.

Me and mom joked about how he constantly chattered about discovering and talking about Pokemon, and how he appreciated me finding just about every single Pokemon there was to capture in every Region known so far. That day, I was proud to say that I felt like a normal kid. Not some Champion of the world, some ultimate Pokemon Master. Just- the son of a dying mother. Before she had to go back to the Hospital again so the Doctors could tend to her illness, I released each of my Pokemon to say hello and wish her well.

Pikachu, of course, was the most cute of all, making my mom squeal is absolute delight at how adorable it was. Charizard was quite a charming gentleman, blowing heart-shaped smoke-rings and warming her up with a gentle flame. Venusaur and Blastoise were as clumsy as they were sincere, but were far too lumbering to give her a hug that would have crushed her frail frame. Snorlax of course, was being Snorlax, and waved a lazy chubby arm before falling asleep in front of us all, snoring loudly as it did. As we laughed at the laziness of the over-weight Pokemon of mine, my mother's eyes turned back to mine.

"Please don't be sad, dear. I'll see you tomorrow." She reached her hand out, and to my surprise, soaked up tears from my cheeks with some clean tissues of hers. Where did those come from? I'm not even sad, I was happier than ever! I assumed they were just happy tears. With one more embrace, I left her at the Hospital bed, and headed back home. It was almost time for me to meet up with pervert-ninja again.

As I entered the house, I found Blue leaning on the fence to my house with his arms crossed. He was watching me accusingly. What is up with everybody? Don't they realize that I have a thing called privacy?

"Leaf told me how you just pushed her off like she was a total stranger. She's one of your best friends, and you wont even give her a simple hug. I know your own mother's ill, but come on, that doesn't give you the right to be so cold to everybody."

Well that's one I haven't heard before. There's a difference between wanting to be alone, and coldly pushing everybody away. I suppose I really did come off a little too harsh on the poor girl. Wasn't that smile I gave her good enough? Apparently not. Whatever, I have a perverted ninja to meet up with.

I passed by, nonchalantly ignoring him.

Why he's getting so worked up, it's beyond me. I'd assume he's just trying to get me to say a word, and probably out of anger. If anybody knew how to piss me off, it was definitely Blue. I'm not taking the bait. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Blue watch me walk with a frown. Hm, he seems to always have a permanent frown on his face. Well, whenever I was around. I was surprised that he didn't attempt to do anything, he didn't even say a word. As I closed to door, I watched him turn away as if he was hurt, exactly like how Leaf reacted when I wanted her out of my room.

I don't know why he's feeling so bad, we've always been at conflict ever since he decided to make my life a living hell and turned against me from best friend to a horrible bully. Yeah, we were best friends. Save that idea for a later nightmare, because I barely remember anything pleasant about the _assface_ anymore.

"Who was that, a friend of yours?" I instinctively grabbed a Pokeball, preparing to throw it, but I found that the random voice came from the perverted-ninja. Oh come on! Did my privacy just get shoved out a window, what the heck was this? That's it, I'm locking the door from now on! Growing frustrated, I put my Pokeball away back on my belt, and motioned her to lead the way. To my surprise, perverted-ninja wasn't wearing her black-suit today. Instead, she was wearing a normal white singlet, and a long purple dress with floral patterns on it. Her hair was a curl of red hair, tied up in a bun and pins. Well who do we have here, another attractive girl stalking my house?

"Oh, right, to Giovanni. You know I was wondering, are those eyes really red, or are you wearing contacts?"

So many questions, and I'm not answering a single one with even a word of yes or a no. I wonder how I managed this whole time. I shake my head. These eyes, oddly enough, are truly red; And I'm not even Albino. Mom did call me a different name when I was born, but as soon as my eyes opened up, revealing the reddest of eyes, everybody started nicknaming me 'Red', and that was officially my name. What was my original name, you may ask? It's for me to know, and you to never find out.

I head out the door, and made sure I remembered to lock it this time. The perverted-ninja eyed me curiously, while leading the way.

"Do you uh, have a Pokemon we could ride? He's at Celadon City. We're staying at the hotel."

Just perfect, she's meant to lead me to Giovanni, and she doesn't even have a ride of her own. This is really beginning to not be worth the effort. But in hopes of the possibility of restoring my mother, I had no choice but to foolishly hope that this may actually work. Picking out a Pokeball, I grip it's round surface with a brief grin, then throw it- in a blazing torrent of white-hot flame, the fire pokemon appears. Charizard gave a mighty roar.

_Oh stop being such a show off Charizard, you're going to wake the whole town up with a roar like that._ Looking down at me with that confident, proud look it always has, Charizard glanced over at the perv-ninja, then yawned with pure boredom at her.

Yeah, I'm sorry you couldn't come out of your ball that often too, buddy. But dying mothers don't really have much to do with epic battles. As I mounted Charizard, who's blue and orange wings were spread out wide, I looked down at perv-ninja. That will now be her official nickname from now on. I laugh mentally every time I say it in my head.

The perv-ninja was hesitating, watching Charizard with absolute awe, I could only grin along with the flaming winged reptile. She slowly climbing onto his back until she sat down behind me. I pat Charizard once with a hand.

_Fly._

Straightening it's legs, it leaps into the air, powerful wings beating. I laugh silently as perv-ninja squeals in fright. Charizard growls a chuckle, now soaring faster than a Pidgeot across the night sky, it's flame-tail trailing on with sparks behind it.

When we finally arrived at Celadon City, I wasn't surprised to find that there were still lights on, street-lamps glittering in the night, and people crowding and walking all over the place. It wasn't as busy as day time, but it was still quite crowded. _Job well done as always, buddy. Don't get too bored, okay? _It's enters back inside the Pokeball, and I continue to follow on behind perv-ninja. Hahaha! Sorry.

The hotel appeared a little different, there were new rooms and a new layout, but I saw a familiar old-woman with a Persian by her side. She sure enjoyed her tea. We climbed a few stair cases and walked down a few corridors, a long and boring walk about that I fail to describe because it was far too boring to do just that. As we finally reach the room, I enter it to find Giovanni in the middle of the floor. He was- meditating? For such a superficial man, that was a slight surprise. He opened his eyes as he heard the door closing, and looks up at both me and perv-ninja. Wrinkles were forming over his once sharp, harsh features; And was that a few grey hairs I could see on that well-brushed black hair of his?

"Ah, Red. It's been a long time." Giovanni sounds a lot less intimidating than I last remember. Then again, I was only eleven years old when I took him on several times, and each time, I'd defeat him. I assume he still feels grumpy about the part where he was defeated by a prepubescent child. At least now, if he would like, he could be defeated by a sixteen year old boy. But even then, it will only lower his dignity.

"Still the silent boy so long ago, I see. It deafens my ears." Giovanni slowly went to stand, patting himself off. He was wearing some kind of robe, probably used for meditating. I shrugged, watching him indifferently. Guess he's gone a little loopy over the years.

"Thank you for bringing him all the way here, Stella. Go get some rest, I'm sure you're utterly tired after searching for the young man." For the first time, I believe I'm actually seeing Giovanni smile over at somebody for the first time. It looked quite disturbing on a face such as his; Those cold calculating eyes were impossible to be gentle enough for a smile, but oddly enough, it also looked right on him.

"I suppose you'd expect me to monologue about my next master plan. You were always good at making people talk without saying a single word yourself. My plan isn't to take over the world, I assure you. Over my studies I've come to learn that you've defeated about every Champion, Elite Four, and trainer there is out there. It's already hard enough finding information about you, seeing you drift here and there almost like a Ghasty."

_Get on with the plan, old-man. What exactly do you want me to do?_

"Excuse me for droning on, it's been a while since I've spoken this much to a person. To put it in short, I need your help. I assume you've captured the elusive Celebi?" What kind of obsessive Trainer do you take me for? I'm no slacker. I nod once.

Giovanni shook his head slowly.

"Excellent. I was right to not underestimate you this time. I need you to order the Celebi to take us across time- and in the past. There, I need your help to prevent something from happening." Was that a flash of regret in his eyes? I think so. I thought the only emotion the man could feel was the feeling of world-domination, and being defeated by the hands of a eleven year old. Well, I guess you really do learn new things everyday. I nod once again, and motion at the door with my thumb.

_I guess I'll go draw Celebi out from my storage box right now. _My mind pondered on the thought of going back in time. It never really occurred to me. Let's see, I go back in time, force my mother to get a immunization for the disease, while I also help Giovanni sort his problem out. Perfect!

Why the hell didn't I think of this plan sooner? Guess I was too busy dwelling on the possibility of mom dying. Somehow, I accepted and was preparing, and expecting to hear the news of her dying eventually. Why was I so ready to hear her dying? Oh, who cares, I wont be needing to worry about that anymore, especially with this plan. I could feel a smile slowly etch onto my face. Giovanni looked rather surprised, seeing me smile. Although I am a little curious, if not at all- what exactly does he want to do in the past? If it's not domination, he must probably want to make sure he's not some old, lonely poor man living in a hotel. I must admit, he didn't look too better off. I would have almost felt sorry for him. The both of us just stared at each- we sure created a uneasy atmosphere. Even perv-ninja- I mean, Stella, was a little unnerved at our silent staring. Eventually I turned away. Before I did, though, I thought I saw a flicker of sadness on the old man.

I've been picking up how everybody's appeared so sad, lately. But only when they look at me... What made me make everybody feel so sad? Or was it all just my imagination? Was I really the one that was sad?

It doesn't matter. We're going to time travel and fix this problem.

Because hey, time traveling solves all your problems!

As I left the hotel, I passed by yet another familiar red-head. He looked almost like Stella, but had more of Giovanni's sharp features than the more soft, almost dopey-looking Stella. Ah, it was the one and only son of Giovanni, Silver! Was he living at this hotel with the old-man himself? I give him a glance, and went on my way.

"Red, is it?" Of course everybody just feels so inclined to talk to me whenever I pass them by. I wont be surprised if he demanded a Pokemon battle from me. Actually, I was hoping he would- I haven't had a Pokemon battle, nor had the time to train for almost two whole days now, and I was feeling rather hungry for some more action. I stop on my tracks, watch him out of the corner of my eye, and give him a light nod. I don't really know much about Silver, the guy was more obsessed with becoming a powerful trainer, and beating Gold in a battle.

"Will you really help him?" Silver asked, suspiciously watching me. Oh, he was Giovanni's son alright. I nod again. Now ask me to a battle, ask me, ask me! I was itching to watch Pikachu zap a few tough Pokemon. I just hope Silver actually had tough Pokemon. Knowing his reputation, I'd say he did.

"Did he tell you what he planned to do?"

I shake my head. _Don't know, don't care. Now hurry up and ask me to a battle! _

"He wants to save his wife."

...Huh. Of course, how else does Giovanni have two kids? I just assumed that Stella was Silver's sister- they both had very distinct red hair, after all.

"It would be nice if you could help save our mother, Red. We really miss her." Oh here it comes! That sad, sad pitiful look I get all the time, this time from the tough-looking red-head. Why do I keep seeing people sad all the time? Can't people be happy for once? My own mother's dying, and you don't see me moping around like it's the end of the world. And if I was sad, there's no point dwelling in it.

But to think, I'd be saving two mothers, now- my own, and his. It sounded like such a simple task. I hoped it was. But then I remembered how much I liked trouble. Danger. Excitement.

Oh, this will not be easy, alright...


	5. Chapter 5

_It's time- to go back to the past, in order to save the future!_

You're all probably wondering how I caught Celebi. Actually, you're probably wondering even more about how I caught every single legendary Pokemon there ever was- all of them are, after all, are pretty damn _special._ Even though most of them showed me just how special they were when I ordered Snorlax to simply sit it's big-self right on top of them.

_Go Snorlax, sit on our enemy! Make them suffer! _Oh come on, I have to find fun ways of hunting down every single Pokemon somehow. Celebi, I must say, was quite a tough one to catch. Had to make sure Charizard didn't burn the poor thing into a blackened crisp. Sometimes Charizard forgets that I need to catch Pokemon alive. And I certainly didn't take any pride in hurting other Pokemon, especially when they don't deserve it. One of the down sides of having Pokemon who are just too powerful- or maybe being a legendary trainer who just knew a little too much about Pokemon in general.

In a related topic, you're also probably wondering how I order my Pokemon around, seeing I- well, appear to lack the ability of speech. Let's just say, we have our ways of communicating. Me and my team have really bonded, like a family- our minds think alike also, seeing I raised them from the very beginning. My mind trailed back to the very first day I received Charmander, my chosen starter Pokemon- while Blue chose Squirtle, and Leaf chose Bulbasaur.

Oh, how I thought it would take forever to reach the top. As a kid, I'd imagine myself with a walking stick at the ripe old age of sixty, telling kids to get off my Pokemon battle stadium, instead of lawns. Why on earth did I already become a legend at the young age of sixteen? Damn, I'm good.

Ah screw it, who cares, I've got some time traveling to take care of. I really should keep Pikachu out of his Pokeball. He usually helps me keep my mind on track with a gentle jolt of electricity.

Instead, I released the legendary Celebi from it's Pokeball, which I've been storing for all these years. I try to let each Pokemon in turn have stretches- although they stay dormant as if in hibernation within the Pokeballs, I feel a lot better knowing I give everyone a nice little stretch. It takes weeks to go down the list... Pokemon are being discovered by the truck-load. And that was just an understatement. Don't get me started on all the... Curious Pokemon I had to catch and train from the Unova region. That Trubbish never really made much sense, especially when comparing it with Grimer...

The Celebi made it's quiet little call, it's small, delicate wings fluttered about. It's green fur created a rather alien-like sheen against the pale moon light in the dark night sky. I guess the alien part from from the fact that Celebi was a Pokemon from the future— or the past? It time travels, so I guess that will remain a mystery for years to come. I gave it a small smile, and it buzzed around me, giving off a wonderful sparkle of floating leaves and a fresh-garden aroma. Boy, Celebi sure looked happy to see me.

"I must admit, Red. Your capabilities are remarkable." Giovanni spoiled the mood of the friendly little green Pokemon's flight around me, and it hid behind me as the intimidating man spoke. I don't blame the little thing. After all, Giovanni has been hunting down Powerful Pokemon, trying to get them to do his evil plans. I shrug in reply- I don't know why he's suddenly admiring how I do stuff. Guess he's gone past the bitter taste of defeat after all. Good to know. I pointed towards the Celebi, then pointed back to Giovanni, nodding towards him.

_Now tell Celebi to take us back to the time you want. _Giovanni gave me a look- it almost appeared as if he was trying to hide a smile. I got good eyes, old man, I don't miss much. The Celebi blinked towards me, then turned it's attention to Giovanni, getting the idea that he was going to tell it where to go.

"Celebi, I need you to take both me and Red two years into the past, on November the 15th." Giovanni finally said. The Time Travel Pokemon turned to me to await my approval. two years? That was when I decided to officially isolate myself on Mt. Silver. At first they were simply visits- but the more I went, the more I stayed, and the more I found myself drawn to train there. Not only were the wild Pokemon there formidable opponents, but the mountain- that stupid, snowy mountain does _something_ to me, that's for sure. I give a firm nod. Timidly, the Celebi goes still- everything around us suddenly begins to go all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey- stuff. Alright, jokes aside, I felt myself enter a sense of Vertigo- the displacement of moving through time became apparent. I watched Giovanni, his eyes were wide. I knew he was thinking at such power I had at my finger tips, with all these Pokemon I could order around- and all I did was keep myself stuffed up in a mountain. Don't judge me! I have my reasons. Though unreasonable they sound. Explaining things are boring, you know.

Just before I felt myself become lost in the swirling, spinning world before us, we suddenly stop our travel. I find myself falling, and I'm quickly caught by the Psychic-telekinesis of the Celebi. It gently lowered me to the ground delicately. I almost snickered a laugh as I heard Giovanni's not-so-soft landing, as he lands roughly on the ground. Celebi sways tiredly around- no doubt timing travelling drains it's energy. Smiling, I return it to it's Pokeball.

_Rest well, Celebi. And stay safe in the ball. I don't know how we'll get back without you... _

I hold my hand out to Giovanni. He watches me suspiciously, but grapples at my hand, and hoist him to his feet. Come on, I'm not going to let an old-grudge stop me from being a decent gentleman. The guy was getting old anyway, he needs help.

"No doubt we're still in Viridian Forest. I believe it took us exactly four years back. Alright- it looks like it's about morning, we have relatively enough time. Red, listen carefully."

I look at him, unamused.

_I'm always listening, that's all I ever do! _

Giovanni clears is throat, getting what I would have said by just the way I looked at him, and continued.

"Today, in the afternoon at approximately three o'clock, my Wife will be out walking. She'll be in a terrible car accident in Viridian City- I need to prevent that from happening."

A car accident? I expected maybe some Pokemon was attacking, or a horrible criminal murders her, but a car accident? I don't meant to offend the poor lady, but man, is that one sad, unfortunate way to go. Seriously, if I was to die, I'd make sure it was an extravagant as possible. Car accidents... Pssh. I'll gladly help him get her to avoid it entirely.

"You see, we- we had our arguments. It was either her, or my training, and I sent her off with- not the most wisest of words. She grew worried, and angry at me for barely ever visiting her regularly, ever since you defeated me so long ago, but I knew she worried and was angry out of love. My defeat sent me into some obsessive state. I trained long and hard. By the time I found my senses, I've heard the news and- she was gone."

Oh god, not the guilt. That burning, bitter sensation burnt my stomach. No doubt it was all my fault he had to ask me, the very kid who pulled him apart from his wife, and the rest of his family, to save his wife. At least I'll be redeeming myself by helping him this way, so that's a relief. But the way he described how he over-looked his wife's loving words, his drive to do nothing but train... Was he going through the same state I was?

But I never lost a single battle, nor even had a bit of the experience. Sure, my Pokemon would faint at times, but those days were far from over. Was my own mother angry at me, for being gone for so long? It's obvious she was worried, any mother would be. She always keeps telling me that she's proud that I'm doing what I want to do. But is what I want to do hurting her? To disappear, as if I never existed... Remain the hidden, lonely trainer, ever-searching for an adversary that would be challenging, and enjoyable...

Damn, I really need Pikachu's jolts to set my mind straight. I shake my head to focus, and keep my eyes on Giovanni. The man really did look like an old, tired villain who admits, and accepts defeat. I completely screwed up his life's dream, and now, his family. I know he coldly thinks Pokemon as just tools, he doesn't have the right to think that, but- this guilt, it wont stop bombarding my mind.

"Please, spare me your pity. I might as well receive more hate, my own son and daughter have been giving me enough of that, lately." He raised a single hand.

_Come on old man, you're not that bad. Sort of. _I shrug, nodding, and we both begin to track on through the forest. Wow, this place brought back a lot of memories. This was also when I first encountered Pikachu... Soon to become my most formidable yellow friend. Funny how we met at such- conflicting terms. Back then, when I first entered these forests, I was reckless and stupid, and demanded my once small Charmander to nearly burn the whole forest down. Pikachu, brave and reckless himself, came in and attacked me, instead of the Pokemon they're usually meant to be drawn to attack. My hair remained puffed up like an afro for days due to the static, after that little brawl, but eventually I got the Pikachu- and a very bad case of paralysis.

After a walk down memory lane, we finally arrived at Viridian City. It was quite a modest City, not as big as Celadon, and not as watery as Cerulean. Though, the City had a few decent, pretty gardens and ponds. The seahorses and Magikarps were always somehow odd, yet fun to watch in the ponds. Especially when Magikarp would attempt it's all-powerful move, the mighty Splash! Oh don't look at me that way, it's not pleasant getting your clothes wet, and the Fish Pokemon were specialized in doing just that.

"I don't think I can face my wife again. Especially right now- Red, please, do you think you could be the one to make sure she doesn't get herself into the accident?"

Well why else did I grab my Celebi for such an occasion? To have a rave-party, and get into the car-accident with your poor wife? Seriously, why don't people ask me questions at all, sometimes. I nod again with an almost light sigh.

"I'll lead you to where it happens. I'll keep hidden."

So after a short little tour around the City, we arrived at our next place to wait- a simple street. At a simple corner. At a simple City. God, this was so unexciting. I was hoping for Mewtwo, or Articuno to find their way here and throw a legendary-fit. Then I'll come in, save the day, and be on my merry way with fans trailing on behind me like rabid-fan girls. But then I remembered how I already captured every legendary. Damnit.

I don't really have fans actually, seeing I make sure I stay as low as I possibly can. Barely anybody knows it was I who defeated every single Champion in each region. I had a nasty habit of simply disappearing once I was done with them. No records, no recognition! And no recognition, no bothers. Besides, Espeon knew Teleport, I was gonna have her use the move some how!

Now here I was, sitting on the roof, over-looking the area where Giovanni's wife had died. I guess it would have pained him to take me back here- after all, he only knows his wife died at this exact spot because he literally saw her dying body here, covered in blood most probably. As the feeling of guilt returned, weighing me down, I turned away to allow my eyes to fall upon something else. A few Pidgeys perched nearby me, eying me curiously.

I ignored the Bird Pokemon and looked to the skies- hm, was that a Pidgeot I see up there? Indeed there was! It's wings spread wide, and magnificent crest trailing on behind it. There appeared to be somebody riding it's back. Oh, was that- Blue? I don't know, it wasn't hard recognizing that very distinct spiky brown hair. And wasn't he running the Viridian Gym, at this time? Why on earth was he flying on his Pidgeot, he should be running the blasted gym! Oh well, whatever, I have a wife of one of my old enemy's to save. But by the looks of the morning, it wasn't going to happen any time soon. Come to think of it, what did Giovanni's wife even look like?

Hold on, it wont be to hard. Just look for a very upset red head- how else does Giovanni manage to make two kids with blazing red hair? I don't think his black-haired self contained a single trace of red-haired genes surging through his blood. I lay down, and place my hat over my eyes to shade myself from the morning sun. Well, at least it was a relaxing, almost quiet morning, it almost reminded me of Mt. Silver. Darn! Again, my mind wanders onto that damn mountain. I'll figure out why that mountain is so special. Giving out a loud sigh, I was thinking of releasing a few of my Pokemon that could fit on the room of this building just to keep me company from being bored out of my mind. As I was attempting to be lazy, I pause as I hear flapping- and it was sounding like it as getting closer. Quickly tearing my hat away from my face, I managed to look up just in time to see a giant Pidgeot with it's talons out-stretched.

In utter alarm, I try to roll out of the way- but Pidgeot was quick on both their feet, and in flight. It pinned me to the concrete building below, it's claws on my chest.

_Hey, don't rip my perfectly good clothes! _

Looking up at the large bird Pokemon, I could see Blue dismount his Pidgeot, his blue eyes purely staring at me. Those were really, really blue eyes.

"Back from hiding, are ya?"

For just a few seconds, I almost forgot how much of a cocky bastard he was. His annoying little smirk made me want to punch him in the face again. It was kinda hard to try to do that, being pinned by his bird and all. I give him a roll of my eyes, and I point at the Pidgeot. Well, at least I didn't look too different four years in the future, from now. I wouldn't be explaining to him how I time traveled all the way back here to this bozo anyway.

"Think we got'em by surprise? Good job, girl." He stroked his Pidgeot fondly on the beak, and the bird chirped lovingly back, and got off me. Wow, that was a surprise, Blue actually showing affection for his Pokemon. That was his one down-fall, when I took him on three years ago from now- he didn't know that you had to put your heart, and not just work into your Pokemon to help them grow. I may have trained my own team, but we grew as a family, while Blue treated his Pokemon more like wild things to be tamed. I get up to my feet, and dust myself off. I hope he simply gets bored of being in my presence.

"Still the silent kind, huh? Well, whatever. What are you doing here?"

When I still didn't give him an answer, Blue made a long, and exasperating sigh. Replacing his cocky, confident grin, was a tired, almost exhausted expression. Wow, was that even possible for Blue to be tired? He never seem to have got tired of bullying me all these years!

"Oh come on, I was just messing around. Look at you- when was the last time you literally laughed?"

I laughed plenty of times not too long ago, and even in the future! Oh, he probably means a laugh where I actually make noise. No, that's not going to happen. Silent protagonist stays silent, you know. I give a shrug, and swish my hand at him.

_Now go off and have fun being a Gym Leader. _

To my dismay, yet not surprise, Blue stayed put. Stubborn, he was.

"Why didn't you stay being Champion, Red? To let yourself be recognized by the world all over, as the most amazing damn trainer ever."

And now we're back here again. Great, it's going to take ages to finally push him off. And I can't just leave, I have a woman to rescue!

Since I so foolishly allowed my mind to wander again, I only just started to realize that Blue was approaching me. Boy, he was getting a close.

"You think you're so cool, don't you? Quietly going by life, beating everything in your path like an indestructible force of nature." Hey now, this was uncalled for! He starts jabbing his finger on my chest. I was just pinned by a giant Pidgeot on my chest, now I'm being poked by Mister Rival, over here! I frown at him, and swat his arm away. The thing I found really funny, is I'm pissing this guy off. And I'm not sayin' nothin'. Seriously... Was it the way I give people looks?

_Just shut up and go away, geez, give a guy some space!_

"But you know what? You're only strong because your Pokemon is doing all the work. Look at you- you're such a weakling! When I ditched you, all you had was your Pokemon, or nothing. And without a single damn Pokemon on you, you're useless! Ha, you can't even get rid of me now, can you? Go on, get your stupid yellow rat out! Tell it to use Thunder- oh wait, you can't talk!"

I really, really, _really _wanted to punch him in the face. And maybe kick him in the groin. But he did have a point. What was I without Pokemon? I spent all my life doing nothing but train Pokemon. If I didn't have Pokemon... Heck, if Pokemon never existed... Where would I be? Heck, what would I be? Oh well, it's my fault for not having Pikachu out to begin with. No problem, this situation doesn't seem too hard to get out of. Just simply throw a Pokeball...

It was then things got a little out of hand. He grabbed my right arm before I actually could get a Pokeball out, and slightly twisted it- Ow! Geez, what the hell is this guy's problem!?

"Pidgeot! Take his Pokeballs!" Blue barked at order to his Pokemon. Wait, what? Oh no he didn't! I managed to tear my arm away from Blue, but his Pidgeot was already a blur- before I managed to reach my hands down to get a single Pokeball, the darn bird pecked them all off my belt. Damnit to hell.

The Pokeballs bounce all over the place, but the Pidgeot manages to gather each and every one in it's talons.

"Not so great now, are ya? See how you like being powerless!" Blue, and that stupid, cocky grin again. I swear, once I get Charizard, I will make sure there's nothing but ashes where that grin was. Blue leaps onto his Pidgeot, and takes off.

With my damn balls.

Great.

Whatever, I'll get my Pokeballs back- where the hell was Giovanni? Isn't he nearby? I rush over to the very edge of the building I was on, over-looking the street I was meant to be watching over. Giovanni was nowhere to be seen. Man, he must be hiding somewhere sound-proof, if he didn't here Blue throw a complete hissy-fit at me. But what's this?

I find a very upset, teary-eyed woman storm her way across the street. Damn, her hair was on fire! Thankfully, not yet. Geez, that hair was as red as Charizard's flame, I mean wow. Oh, crap, she's crossing the road! And was that a unruly van I see hurling towards her? Why was this all in slow motion?

Great, the one time I'm supposed to be doing something, and Blue comes and ruins it all. I was going to get Snorlax out to block, and possibly bounce the incoming car-crash with just his heavy weight alone- but it looks like I'm gonna have to do this the hard way. Leaping off of the tall building, I tear right through a shop-banner, and land roughly on the ground. A few people gasp and stare at me on the pavement, before I break into a sprint towards Giovanni's wife. My legs were still stinging after jumping off like an idiot- I think I sprained something.

Off I ran, as fast as a Rapidash, except without the fire. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the car that was meant to be the wife's demise. It was a big white van, with a startled man driving it, trying to steady the wheel. This was all still in slow-motion, by the way- man, bullet-time was great. I sprinted, panting heavily, and ran straight into the woman, shoving her away from the incoming van. And then I cursed at myself as I stared at the van that was nearing me within inches- Oh crap, I really should have went for a dive...

When I wanted trouble, I was expecting an exciting, exhilarating Pokemon battle- and I certainly wasn't expecting to literally be hit by a va-

…...

…...


	6. Chapter 6

_nothing like bleeding to death after being hit by a large vehicle._

You all thought I was dead, didn't you? On the contrary, I was just lying down here on a small pool of blood in the middle of the road. The van could of at least had the decency to literally knock me out so I could be unconscious throughout the whole time of being hit by a van, and taken to Hospital. I think I felt a few of my ribs crack, and I couldn't really feel my knees. Come to think of it, I can't feel anything, all I could feel was the swimming, spinning head of mine, where I felt my own warm blood slip out of the cuts and wounds like a fountain. Well, luckily, not entirely like a fountain, more like somebody draining a carton of juice. Only I don't think my blood would be as tasty as juice.

Thankfully enough, I already had everybody's attention- while some were staring at the scene like a bunch of brainless Magikarp, a few decent people actually attempted to call an Ambulance. Thank you! I don't think I could have moved my broken arms to get my phone out. Did I even have a phone? I don't think I did. The woman I just saved was the first to literally approach me.

"Don't worry, you'll be just fine, just hang in there."

Wow, no wonder Giovanni married her. She wasn't stupid enough to ask, 'Are you okay?'. Seriously, why do people ask that, sometimes? 'Oh yeah, I just need to make sure that you're feeling the pain, you know?' Damn people.

I look up to her, trying my best to remain composed and emotionless, but it was to no avail, as I feebly tried to get up, wincing as I moved. The woman held me down, and instantly began pressing pressure against some of my more deeper, bloodier wounds so I couldn't bleed any further.

Soon I could hear the echoing sirens. You know, when I always heard the sirens when I'd travel about in town, I'd always think and feel sorry for the poor people who needed that Ambulance to arrive. Now it was everybody else's turn to feel sorry for me. Like I didn't have enough of that, with a dying mother and everybody giving me sad looks all the time. Ugh, this couldn't possibly get any- oh god no, I can't say that, I'm going to find something worse!

Oh what do you know, I did. I managed to ever-so slightly turn my blood-soaked neck to see a set of very blue eyes, staring at me with pure regret. Yeah, you better regret taking my balls, you bastard, Blue! What the hell was he doing there anyway, standing like a moron. Guess anybody who knew me well would be surprised to see me in a car accident. People would be less shocked if they found me being attacked and killed by some kind of powerful, dangerous Pokemon, really. The drivers from the Ambulance came in and carried me into the Ambulance truck, where I was immediately treated on with a few handy devices. They were similar to healing potions for Pokemon, but they were for humans instead. I've never been treated with human-potions before, so this was pretty interesting.

The spray of the medicine felt soothing on my wounds, and the bleeding was quickly coming to a stop.

"What's your name, kid?" One of the possible doctors asked me, shining one of those light-things on my eyes. Get that light away from my eyes, that's no way to treat the Champion of the world, and a kid who just got hit by a damn van! Before the ambulance-truck closed to drive me off to Hospital, the wife of Giovanni rushed up right beside the vehicle.

"Who are you?" Another doctor who was wrapping bandages around my heavily-concussed head asked the woman, trying not to sound rude, seeing they were rushing around trying to stop me from dying of complete blood-loss.

"I'm the one the boy saved- I know him. I was just wondering if I could keep him company."

_Sure lady, come on in, there's plenty of room, try not to step on the places where I bled on, that's all._ Actually I really would prefer if I had company inside an ambulance, especially seeing none of my Pokemon could keep my company at the moment. Stupid Blue. I know, partly it's my fault, but come on, I didn't expect him to just fall from the sky! Literally!

"Are you alright, ma'am?" A woman asked the red-haired wife.

She nodded and sat on a chair beside me. I was helped onto a chair as well, because I guess they didn't have a handy medicine that could instantly heal broken bones. At least my left arm was feeling a little alright, but my ribs were making it really hard to breath. My knees were being tended to right now, sprayed and covered in bandages. Oh, those poor torn, blood-stained jeans of mine. No problem, I had extra clothes.

"What's your name, son?" One of the men who was healing my knee asked. Weakly, I tried to get my working left arm and attempted to dig into my pocket. Pulling out a mangled-old wallet out, I gave it to the man. He nodded in thanks, and opened it up, probably trying to look for my relations. All I really had in the wallets, of course, was just my Trainer ID cards with a picture of me, and all the badges I've collected across each region. The man looked up at me in wonder.

"Wow, you're an impressive kid, I'll tell you that. Have any family, or relations you'd like us to call for you?" The wife was glancing over at my wallet. I could tell she wanted to peer inside, but the man had already closed it when he didn't find anything else. I held my left hand out, and motioned towards the little pen and note book in a small pocket just below the collar of his white shirt. Blinking then nodding, he pulled the pen out, clicked it, and handed both the pen and note-book to me.

I wrote the number of my house down in very messy hand writing. I always had terrible hand writing, but it was even worse with my left hand.

Beside the number I had written, I wrote in very bold letters, 'Mom'.

"Is that all? No siblings, no grandparents? Friends?" He asked, growing a little concerned for me. I shrugged and shook my head. I was thinking of getting Professor Oak's number as well, but I decided against that. If my mom knew about my little accident, he'd quickly find out himself anyway. Besides, he must be busy studying Pokemon. As for Leaf- well, I didn't need another girl worrying over me, did I?

As the man took the note-book and pen back, he goes over to the nearby telephone, and dial away. I imagined the look on my mother's face as she finds out, after over three years of worrying over me, the first time she hears back from me is because I got into a car-accident. She's going to be absolutely thrilled, and possibly decide to murder me just for scaring her like that.

"Your name is Red, huh?"

Hm? Oh dang, really? Giovanni's wife was looking through my wallet, scanning through my Trainer cards for each Region I visited. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova. Okay, I actually didn't put my wallet back in my pocket, I lazily placed it on my lap, so I guess that was my fault. I give a light nod, and wince at the pain of attempting to sigh. Stupid broken ribs.

As we drove away, I'd assume we'd go to the Pallet Town Hospital. Why a town has a Hospital and not Viridian City, was beyond me, but I suppose seeing the two town and City was so close, I guess Viridian City had no point making a Hospital of their own.

"I need to thank you, for getting me out of that truck's way. I wasn't- I wasn't thinking straight."

It's okay lady, I'm not thinking straight right now anyway, because of the damn head-concussion. The thing I want to know, is why the van managed to kill her, and not me- heck, I look like a skeleton compared to this lady, she even looked like she could take down full-grown men! Not that she was large in size, she just looked very tough, and lean. Or maybe it was because of the way she was walking so quickly toward the Van, unprepared- while I on the other hand, was prepared, and managed to barely prepare myself for the impact- knees crushed, right arm broken, a few cracked ribs as I came into contact. If I wasn't prepared myself, maybe I would have died. Dying in the past.

Yeah, that would have been an odd time to die.

I shrug and nod at her apology, attempting a smile. At least none of my teeth popped out, despite being bashed right over the head by the killer-vehicle.

As I was taken out of the van to enter the Hospital, a thought crossed my mind. I probably made her completely forget about the fight she had with Giovanni- it was time to make her remember something a bit more pleasant about him. What she sees in that man, I will never know. Love is crazy, and stupid- precisely why I avoid it entirely.

Reaching inside my blood-stained jacket, which I'm glad the doctors allowed me to keep on, because being shirtless was the last thing I needed for them to fix up my ribs, I pull a familiar green, pretty badge out, and hand it to Giovanni's wife. The Earth Badge was one of my favorites. Not only was it a glorious emerald green; But it also reminded me of my absolute triumph of defeating every Gym leader of a region for the first time, and my beginning journey through Victory Road, and finally, to the Elite Four, and the Champion. The woman took it from my hands, holding it as if it was a precious Pokemon egg.

"Giovanni..." She whispered, and looked as if she was about to burst into tears. I place my only working arm on her shoulder, nodding to her.

_Your man needs you. And it's easy to tell that you need him. _

It looked as if she was about to hug me, but of course she would have crushed my already broken ribs, so she nodded, deeply thankful, I could tell; She bid me luck, and a farewell, rushing off to go back to her husband. I'm sure that'll play out well, hopefully.

The doctors and nurses finally take me to a Hospital room- disturbingly enough, I was assigned at floor 4, room 13B, same as my mother when she becomes sick in the future- that awful coincident better just be a coincident. Set on a clean bed, they took my jacket and black t-shirt off just to make sure my ribs saw that they were okay, wrapping me up in bandages, and then received a temporary, removable cast on my broken right arm. Good, actual casts were such a bother to take off. As a kid who always got myself into trouble in my younger days of being six and younger, I knew that all-too well.

As soon as the doctors were finished with me, my mother rushed into the room. Her eyes were red, as if she had just finished crying- poor ol' mom. Always worrying. She rushes right up to me.

"Look at you! You're a complete mess! What did I tell you about always looking both ways before crossing?" Oh, here comes her motherly-instincts kicking in. I nod each time she tells me something.

"Actually, ma'am- he pushed a woman out of the way who was about to be hit by a vehicle, and was hit himself instead." After mom was kindly informed by a passing nurse, it looked as if she was going to slap me in the face- I really do deserve one- but instead she strokes my cheeks lovingly, and sniff a little.

"My little boy, saving lives and training Pokemon."

_Ack! Mom, you're killing me! _Literally, she began hugging me, sobbing into my shoulder. My ribs were slightly better after being treated to, but I was disappointed that they didn't have any 'insta-bone-healers'. Heck, they had potions, why not those? I demand an explanation! I force a smile through my gritted teeth, and pat my mom's back with my good left hand. Mom pulls away, but remained to stroke my hair like a Persian. Come on mom, I don't purr when I'm being patted like this!

"Please don't do that again. You could have always just used your Pokemon to save that woman, Red. I don't want to see you with a broken arm again." She said, rubbing her reddened eyes, and smiled herself. Oh right, that reminds me. Where the hell was Blue!? I expected him to come back, apologize, and hand over my Pokemon. But he doesn't only not come and visit his would-have-died rival, but he's still off with my stuff!

I really should go back in time just to remind Professor Oak that his name was actually _Asshole_.

Instead I give a light shrug.

"I understand that you're always too busy to call me, or send me a letter. Next time I hear from you, though, I don't want to have to drive all the way over to a Hospital to see you covered in bandages like a mummy, okay?" She pointed a firm finger at me, and I nodded with a silent chuckle. That same, stupid guilt tore at my insides once again. I really should be sending letters to her. Maybe not phone calls, I don't think mom would be able to hear me speak in ellipsis. Now my only problem was that I had to figure out a way to tell her to get a shot for the TB she gets in the future.

Oh finally, something convenient happens. There was a knock on the door, and Giovanni finally makes his appearance. It's about time, where were you this whole time, while I was being healed like an injured Pokemon! I know he had a wife to see, but it's not like she was one who almost got killed here.

"Good to see you're alive, Red. I really do need to thank you." He throws something shiny, and I only just manage to catch it with my good arm. The Earth Badge? When I get a better look at him, I find out that it's really the younger Giovanni, of this time, by the looks of how he suddenly had no grey-hairs. What, did the older Giovanni tell him everything? I wont be surprised. My mom blinked, exchanging glances to both me and Giovanni. I nodded, letting her know he's an acquaintance of mine, and she returns back to babying over me, stroking my hair protectively.

"The other Giovanni told me to tell you to meet him back at Viridian Forest, to 'return'. I'll leave you to your- mother's affection." He grinned and disappeared out of the room, leaving me with mom demanding me answer of whether or not I've been brushing my teeth.

I knew what she was really asking me, instead of all these needless questions.

"Have you brushed your teeth?" 'Have you been alright, all alone?'

"I want you to be extra careful, okay?" 'I want you to visit me more often, even if you're busy.'

"And don't get yourself into trouble like this again!" 'Please don't die before me, Red.'

And always, I'll give her a nod, and a genuine smile. I appreciated mom willing to speak and tell me things, even though I never reply back. She was such an accepting mother. It was now my turn to hug her- I ignored the pain in my ribs.

Mom stayed with me for the rest of the day, spending quality-time with her only-son that almost died. I found it funny how it was me who was at my mom's bedside. Now the position's reversed. And I'm the one who's supposed to be making sure Mom gets a shot for TB so she wont be at the same bed I was in four years later- oh, the irony. What's even more ironic is that I'm a complete and utter chatter box in my own mind, yet I say not even a single word from my barely-used lips.

Funny, how irony like that makes you laugh...


	7. Chapter 7

_Hey, remember when Blue wasn't being an asshole? I don't remember either!_

At the end of the day, mom said her farewells as the Hospital was locking down for the night. Alone, sitting in bed, waiting for the night to roll by. Oh, how was this tedious. Lifting the sheets off of me, I decided to sit up. Staring at nothing in particular, I painfully slipped on my blood-soaked, worn out black t-shirt waiting for me beside my bed. It was nice of the doctors to leave my stuff right where I wanted it. My trade-mark jacket was in an even worse state, and there was really no point putting it on. I fidgeted impatiently.

I really didn't want to wait for my injuries to heal. All I wanted now was to make sure Mom got the message to get her shot. I guess I could tell Professor Oak to tell her- oh, but he might _forget_!

Out of the blue, a tapping noise could be heard. At first I assumed it was just the clock, but I don't remember seeing any clocks in the room. Turning my neck around, which was a pain to do, I could see a Pidgeot tapping on the window sill. Ah, here we are, Blue's apology has come around the corner. I got up from the bed, and slowly limped my way down to the window. I slid it open- there was no Blue.

Instead, I could see his Pidgeot holding all six of my Pokeballs in it's talons. The Pidgeot handed each of them to me one by one, as I clicked them back into place on my belt, every now and then wincing at the effort of having to move. Ugh, now I can't throw a Pokeball in a dramatically awesome fashion for a little a while. Once I had every ball in place, I nodded thankfully to the Pidgeot.

Hold on! I lifted my hand up to make the bird Pokemon wait. It nodded, waiting patiently on a hanging-statue just outside the window. I rushed around the room, finally managing to find a pen and a piece of scrap paper with faint scribbles on it. I began writing something down for Pidgeot to give to Blue:

"_Dear Asshole, I mean- Blue. Thanks, at least you have a little decency left in you. Now seeing you didn't exactly say sorry to my face, I'm still pretty peeved about you, so here's the deal. I want you to tell my mom that I'm okay, and she doesn't need to worry about me at all- and tell her to make sure to get an immunization injection for the disease Tuberculous. This may not make sense at first. You see, I came from the near future, where she actually gets it. But if you make sure to actually bloody tell her to get her shot, you assbutt, then we'll have a happy ending! I hope you have fun knowing that I broke almost every bone in my body, and nearly had myself killed. Asshole."_

Now I know what you're thinking- "Red, stop calling Blue an asshole, he's not that bad". But I just need a little venting after this frustrating adventure this has turned out to be. And I barely got to see any action with my Pokemon!

Handing the letter over to Pidgeot, it spread it's wings out wide, and lifted off of the statue it was perched on. I watched it fly away, no doubt heading back to it's ass of a master, Blue. Why he didn't come himself, I don't know- nor care why. Guess he was too scaredy-Skitty. At least he had the decency of giving my Pokeballs back. Speaking of which!

I release Charizard from his ball, just outside of the window. He glared grumpily at me, hovering in midair.

_I know, I know, you're grumpy too, my fault I never release any of you from my Pokeball in the first place, I'm an idiot, now take me over to Viridian Forest, you grumpy flying lizard, you. _

Heading all the way over to the dark forest, it took me a while to convince to Charizard that it really was okay to put him back in the Pokeball. As soon as he returned into his ball, I wandered around the forest, until I finally came across the old Giovanni. He was sitting down beside a tree, eyes closed, no doubt meditating again.

"Welcome, Red. Are you sure you don't want to wait in the Hospital for those injuries to heal?" He queried. I shook my head, and pull out the ball that had Celebi in it. Giovanni smiled, and stood up, shaking his head slightly.

"I understand. Let's go back to our own time already." He said, standing over, waiting for me to release Celebi. I throw the ball rather pathetically seeing I could barely move without feeling pain. But instead of Celebi being released, both me and Giovanni stared as we found a flopping Magikarp appear on the ground instead of a Celebi. It was attempting splash, and like always, it did nothing.

Oh, this was- nice joke, Blue! Har har, see me laughing?

Yeah, I'm going to kill this bastard. I throw the Pokeball away, leaving Magikarp to flop around- it appeared to be having fun there. Giovanni followed after me.

"I assume there was some kind of mistake." He said. I stopped, turn back to him, and raised both my hands.

_Just wait here old man, I'll be back. And possibly with the head of Blue impaled on a steak. _I turned around, and continued onwards, leaving Giovanni standing, watching me go.

"I trust you wont be taking too long." He called out.

_Oh believe me. I wont be taking too long at all..._

I stormed my way to the Viridian Gym. I knew Blue would probably be waiting for me there. No doubt, he obviously wanted a battle. Then again, maybe he doesn't- after all, we both knew who would win. Pikachu was running along beside me, both his red electric-sacks sparked dangerously. He was feeling my anger.

As I entered the Gym, the doors slammed shut behind me. Was that supposed to unnerve me?

Everything was quiet, the only thing that could be heard were my careful, light foot steps as I made my way across the maze in the gym. Normally trainers would demand a battle from me, but no trainers could be found, seeing they'd all probably be asleep by this hour.

Eventually I arrived at the final area of the Gym. Before was Blue- he was sitting down at a chair, a throne to him, no doubt. He was tapping his shoes on the floor, arms crossed impatiently.

"I expected you to get here sooner." Blue said, still sitting down like a King. Oh, he was a royal pain in the ass, alright. I leaned my good arm on one hip, unspeaking, and glared over at him.

_Yeah well, being injured kinda slows you down, you know. _

Eventually Blue got to a stand, walking towards me. Pikachu tensed up, but I stood my ground calmly. I assumed he had a Pokemon out somewhere, hiding and waiting to attack.

"Thanks for the little note you had my Pidgeot send me. Really? You're from the future? Did the Celebi over here help you do that?" He held out a Pokeball he had hidden behind his back. I remained still, simply watching him without any emotion. Had to stay composed, even if you're just about ready to collapse at the agonizing pain of even just standing. That was proven difficult- I hope Blue couldn't see me quiver.

"Why don't you tell your own mother to get her shots then, huh? Why me? Why do you think I'll actually do what you want me to do?" He was nearing me with each step he took.

_Because I know you love my mother. You'll tell her no matter what I did. _Was what my reply would have been. There was something off about Blue- that's right, he didn't have that cocky-look anymore. His voice was a lot less controlled and confident than it was before, as well. The cocky ass finally cracks! Now this was something to see.

"Oh, I see how it is, silent-but-violent. What, you think your own mother doesn't deserve to hear your own voice? What kind of son are you?"

If only I could punch him in the face, because I would have had the chance right now. I tried to remain composed and calmly gazed back at him. Every breath I took was rather painful, and I couldn't let signs of pain show through my features. Not in front of this Pansy.

"At least you have a mother who's willing to talk to you, to worry about you, to actually acknowledge that you exist. You take her far too much for granted, you know that? Why couldn't I have a mother like yours!" Blue grabbed both my shoulder, and began to shake me vigorously. Despite all the pain he's been inflicting on me through shaking me like a damn soda pop, my thoughts wondered onto Blue's mother.

I never really saw her. She was far too busy training Pokemon of her own. Leaving on trips. She barely spent that much time with her son, Blue. She'd always send pretty gifts to Daisy, but she didn't really even look at her son when she passed him by. She'd tell Professor Oak to care for both her daughter and Son whenever she leaves for long periods of time. Was this what it was all about? Why he's given me hell all these years?

Because every time, after we'd play together, my mother would come by and pick me up... She'd smile, and embrace me as I left, while Blue was left with a mother who didn't even so much as give a single word to him. Was that why Blue was driven to turn against me? Simply because I had an actual mother to call 'mom'? He wasn't jealous that I became Champion. He purely became jealous that I was loved, and he wasn't. And usually, kids would either turn this sadness into crying- or take their sorrow out on others. Blue, it seemed, chose the latter. No wonder why he couldn't become champion- his mother never showed him how to offer compassion, trust, and love to Pokemon, because he never received any. And I knew his sister or Professor Oak couldn't show him that. My mother failed too- sometimes, you gotta have your own biological mother teach you these things of being human.

"Say something, Red! Tell your yellow rat to electrocute me, anything!" I blinked my eyes back into focus as I heard him shouting.

I could see he was struggling to keep tears from blurring his vision. He was always stronger than me, physically and mentally. It's so strange how that's been reversed. Well, the mental part. I guess he's always been angry at me because I simply always ignored him, or never spoke to him. Like his mother. I was even obsessed with Pokemon, and left for years on end. Like his mother.

Was that why he'd always give me those sad eyes... I reminded him of how unloved he was as a child. Eventually Blue stopped shaking me, as I began wincing in obvious agony. Ow, my ribs were really going to take ages to heal, now. Slowly, Blue let his arms fall. Pikachu was going to zap him away from me, but I gave him a look- not now, buddy.

"I always wanted to be better than you at everything. And now look. I'm the one getting all emotional." Blue sniffed slightly, rubbing his watery eyes, giving an embarrassed laugh. I scratched my head, showing him that I offered what little condolences I could give.

"I'll- I'll tell your mother, Red, don't worry. Sorry for getting you into trouble like that, I didn't know you'd walk into a van like an idiot. At least I'm the smarter one out of the two of us." He laughed quietly at me, and I grinned and shook my head, shrugging.

I hold my good hand out to Blue. He stares at my hand, and then at me. He then smiles, and grabs my hand rather roughly, and we both shake hands. Afterwards he hands me the ball with Celebi dwelling inside, and waves at me.

"Now hurry up and get back to your own time. You better visit your mom more often now, okay? Hell, visit us all. Us rivals gotta watch out for each other." I nod and we part ways. I paused, watching him out of the corner of my eye. Pikachu rubs it's yellow-fur up against my leg. Yeah, you're right, Pikachu. There was no need to say thank you- Blue already knew I would have said that. I guess despite us being arch-rivals, we always sort of cared about each other maybe a little. After all, if it wern't for him, I would have never strived to become a stronger person than I was so long ago. And I think I've had the same affect on Blue as well.

He also would have know that I said sorry, even if there was really no point in saying so. Sorry that he was so unloved. But hopefully him having a girlfriend could help him make up for that. Leaf was, after all, a very loving, and caring girl. Those two were rather cute together.

_Well, now. _I glance down at the ball with Celebi. Pikachu looks up at me. 'Pika!'. _It's high time we time-traveled back to our time, Pikachu. _Man, that was a lot of 'times' in that sentence. I chuckle silently, as we were both on our merry way.

…

Come to think of it, I never traveled through time. It was never really that necessary. And quite frankly, I can see why people haven't come up with ways to travel through time yet, because the process of going back to our original time is really, really _lame. _Well okay I didn't use a particularly appropriate word, but it's the best I could think of in what I was going through right now. Think of it like this: you've just poked your finger through the surface of a pool of water. By just simply poking the water, you create a rippling, spreading wave across the whole surface. Now try to fit that terrible analogy onto what I did.

I just prevented my mother's possible death, and may have quite possibly solved my rivalry with Blue through a simple encounter. Knowing that stubborn ass though, I'd say I just made him three times more irritated at me, seeing I now knew his emotional weakness. It's only a matter of time before he figures out mine. Hell, even I don't know what it is, so this should be interesting. But no, what really takes the cake at time traveling back to your own time is that you have to some how 'slip' back into your current life. Usually we'd just randomly appear and become a completely different entity, but Celebi was luckily kind of getting where me and Giovanni were getting at here.

Anyway, enough about time, geez my head's already spinning badly enough as it is due to the whole time-traveling shenanigans. After seeing a few pretty timey-wimey swirls and feeling that sense of displacement again, I finally begin to form back into reality. Voices, memories, and emotions suddenly forced itself into my head. The events that occurred to me due to my tampering with time. Not much of a difference, really; I just seemed to be sending letters to mom a lot of often, but I still remained in Mt. Silver. Training. Again, and again, and again. There's no telling how many times that place nearly drove me insane. Or maybe it already has. Why am I so drawn to it!?

Whatever, let's see where I am now. Uh huh, there' snow. Mt. Silver!

… Why did I automatically assume that? Stupid mountain. But I was- unfortunately, correct. I was back at Mt. Silver. At the very top. Don't get me wrong, I love the mountain, it's almost become my secondary home. But I really need to stop having my mind wander to the stupid thing, it's not a good sign.

Wisps of new memories slipped through my mind. On pushing past them, I gave a sigh with relief as I discovered none of my memories contained mom getting sick with TB. My sigh created warm vapor, which quickly disappeared into the cold air.

"Thank you for taking me up here, dear."

Widening my eyes, I swerve around- mom!? What is she doing up here! Well, at least she's wearing winter clothes. She wont be too happy finding me up here wearing my usual outfit. It's not too well suited for cold climates- but the coldness almost embraces me. I know, I'm weird, shut up. I'm still trying to bloody figure out what the hell I was doing now. Hell, where did Giovanni and Celebi go? Celebi must be back in it's Pokeball, that would be where I'd last place it. As for Giovanni... Who knows. But I hope he's for the better himself.

"This place is magical, isn't it? I can see why you like to be up here all the time."

She stood up right beside me, overlooking the impressive view the mountain overlooked. Snow, the sky, the lower part of the mountain, and a little bit of Johto. I glanced over to her with mild concern- did I take her up here, or did she walk all the way up here? She didn't look tired, so I maybe I did fly her up here with Charizard. My memories were still being rearranged like crazy. Hm, I only just now realized that I had no bodily injuries. I was back to my normal self! Well, abnormal-normal self. I still really need to look in a mirror.

"To think, I would have been sitting in the Hospital bed, if you didn't turn back time to tell Blue to take my shot."

I turned my head over to her in a stare. Blue told her!? I only told him to tell her that I said to take her shots! I knew that ass would do something stupid. I thought mom would go crazy at me for doing something so stupid, time-traveling, but then again- times have changed. I blink as I find myself wrapped in mom's arms. It was good to see her look so healthy, and well again. I hugged her back.

Mother and son, embracing on a deadly mountain. Typical day for me.

"I know I shouldn't tell you off for trying to save me, and I've already given you enough trouble for nearly being killed by a van. But just- next time you do something adventurous, could you please try to make it as safe as possible? Always make sure at least one of your Pokemon are out to rescue you, okay? What about Pikachu, or Espeon? They're small enough to follow you around without much trouble."

I nodded with a smile, but I've already considered the idea even before I caught Pikachu. I don't like to bore my Pokemon by having them follow after me all over the place, and I don't make the most comfortable of seats for my Pikachu, and Espeon was more of the kind to get herself into trouble far more than I do. Sometimes I'd have Charizard fly overhead a few miles up in the sky watching over me, but even he can get bored of doing just that. I really do need to find a new adventure.

I can't promise you that they'll be safe, mom, but I can promise you that I'll always be in one piece. Quite possibly a very bloody piece, but still one piece... And I was glad mom was in one very healthy piece herself. I would have held her hand, but I'm too old for that now, aren't I? A hug is more than enough.

As we watched a rather beautiful morning at the very summit of Mt. Silver together, my thoughts wondered onto Giovanni. Has things turned out for the better, now that I saved his wife? I was thinking of curiously checking up on him at the Celadon Hotels, but he might not even be living there anymore. Heck, he could have moved all the way to Sinnoh, for all we know.

Ah well, alls well that ends well, right? Even though I was sourly disappointed that I didn't get at least one decent Pokemon battle. Heck, I didn't shout one move command to either one of my Pokemon! But for some odd reason, I couldn't help but feel that this was only the beginning of a long trail ahead of me.

Now before you start shouting at me for sounding awfully cleche about the end of this little adventure of mine, I'd just like to remind you who I am.

"…..."

The more you say nothing, the more stuff seems to happen before your eyes. A dandy gift of mine. Anyway, after peacefully standing and enjoying the lovely snow that was falling so gracefully, we eventually left the mountains. Me, being the courteous son I am, rode my mom back home on the back of my fire-breathing dragon. Why Charizard wasn't classified as a dragon type, I'll never know.

"Red, dear?" Mom queried. It's a good thing Charizard wasn't flying too fast, the wind was a bother when you tried to listen to somebody while flying. I glance back at her, curiously listening to what she was had to say.

"Have a shower when we get home, honey."

_Oh, come on, mom! _


End file.
